David Dudley Dowd Jr.
Appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1982 and confirmed by voice vote, David Dudley Dowd Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He earned a law degree from University of Michigan Law School in 1954. Rulings & record ↓ Sources ↓
- Lived
- 1929–2016
- Appointed by
- Ronald Reagan, 1982
- Confirmed
- by voice vote
- Education
- College of Wooster 1951 · University of Michigan Law School 1954
- Succeeded
- Leroy John Contie Jr.
- Succeeded by
- Dan A. Polster
Federal judicial service
| Year | Court | Appointed by | Vote |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Northern District of Ohio succeeded Leroy John Contie Jr. | Reagan (R) | Voice vote |
Party letters show the appointing president’s party, not the judge’s own. A voice vote means the chamber approved aloud. No senator-by-senator tally is recorded.
Confirmation vote
Voice vote
The Senate approved this confirmation aloud, with no senator-by-senator tally recorded. Recorded roll-call votes begin in 1989.
Education
| College of Wooster | B.A. | 1951 |
| University of Michigan Law School | J.D. | 1954 |
Judicial Record
Caseload & case types
In our data, Dowd was assigned 3,861 district-court cases (1972–2013). Median time from filing to termination: 178 days across 3,861 closed cases.
Case assignment is from CourtListener’s PACER-derived docket records: a partial sample, not a complete caseload, reflecting the judge last assigned each case. How we count.
On appeal
Of 86 of Dowd’s decisions reviewed on the merits by the U.S. courts of appeals in our data, 67 were affirmed, 13 reversed or vacated, and 6 affirmed in part and reversed in part. This is a historical count of appellate outcomes for cases we could match, not a judgment of the judge, and not a complete record. How we count.
In our data, Dowd authored 154 published opinions for the court (1982–2011). Most cited: Whittiker v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. (77 citations).
A selective record from published opinions in the CourtListener corpus, not every ruling; most unpublished district orders are not included. Counts and rankings are objective and recomputable: how we count. We describe the record, not the judge.
Recent & notable rulings
| Year | Case | Citation | Cited |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Whittiker v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. | 605 F. Supp. 2d 914 | 77 |
| 1983 | State Ex Rel. Brown v. Georgeoff | 562 F. Supp. 1300 | 53 |
| 1986 | Roger J. Au & Son, Inc. v. Aetna Insurance (In Re Roger J. Au & Son, Inc.) | 64 B.R. 600 | 50 |
| 1986 | Baird v. General Motors Corp. | 654 F. Supp. 28 | 37 |
| 1993 | Braun v. Champion Credit Union (In Re Braun) | 152 B.R. 466 | 32 |
| 1993 | City of Toledo v. Beazer Materials and Services, Inc. | 833 F. Supp. 646 | 29 |
| 1999 | Walker v. Concoby | 79 F. Supp. 2d 827 | 24 |
| 1984 | F. Buddie Contracting, Inc. v. Seawright | 595 F. Supp. 422 | 23 |
| 1983 | Fradkin v. Ernst | 571 F. Supp. 829 | 19 |
| 1999 | Comm'n v. Outback Steakhouse of Florida, Inc. | 75 F. Supp. 2d 756 | 18 |
| 1991 | Shorter v. Champion Home Builders Co. | 776 F. Supp. 333 | 18 |
| 1991 | Revco D.S., Inc. v. Government Employees Insurance | 791 F. Supp. 1254 | 18 |
| 1986 | Tabor Enterprises, Inc. v. Illinois (In Re Tabor Enterprises, Inc.) | 65 B.R. 42 | 18 |
| 1995 | Re/Max International v. Realty One, Inc. | 900 F. Supp. 132 | 16 |
| 1983 | Radio Steel & Mfg. Co. v. MTD Products Inc. | 566 F. Supp. 609 | 16 |
Showing the 15 most-cited of 154 authored opinions in our data. “Cited” is inbound citations across the CourtListener corpus. Case links open the ruling’s full text (CourtListener) or its page here; read the methodology and verify against the primary source.
Questions & answers
- Who appointed David Dudley Dowd Jr.?
- President Ronald Reagan appointed David Dudley Dowd Jr. to the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in 1982.
- Was David Dudley Dowd Jr. appointed by a Democrat or a Republican?
- David Dudley Dowd Jr. was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican. JudicialFinder records the appointing president's party, not a judge's own politics.
- What was David Dudley Dowd Jr.'s confirmation vote?
- David Dudley Dowd Jr. was confirmed by voice vote on September 22, 1982. No senator-by-senator tally was recorded.
- Which court was David Dudley Dowd Jr. on?
- David Dudley Dowd Jr. was a Judge on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio.
Sources
Each fact on this page traces to a primary public record.
- FJC Biographical Directory
- Wikidata
- Portrait: United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Public domain), via Wikimedia Commons
- CourtListener bulk data (Free Law Project): authored opinions & citation counts
How we source & reconcile data → Data & Sources
See something wrong? Report an error. Fixes are logged in the corrections log.
33 years on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. Data as of 2026-08-10. Informational only; verify against the primary source before relying. Not a consumer report (FCRA).